Vera Lengsfeld (born 4 May 1952) is a German politician. She was a prominent civil rights activist in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and after the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

she first represented the

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

and then the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

Early life

Lengsfeld was born in

Sondershausen Sondershausen is a town in Thuringia, central Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was incorporated by Sondershausen. Until 1918 it ...

. Her father was an officer in the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

, the East German

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

. After leaving school she studied Philosophy at

Humboldt University Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

. Following her studies, she worked as a lecturer and researcher at the National Institute of Philosophy in the Academy of Sciences of

. From 1975, she was a member of the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

(SED). After a party procedure she was transferred to the Institute for Scientific Information. In 1981 she left the academy and went to work as an editor. She became a born-again Christian in 1981, and was active in various civic organizations in East Germany (GDR). She was the co-founder of in the autumn of 1981, the Environment Library Berlin; Profession group and the Church from Below in 1986. Their commitment included the organization of numerous events of the peace and environmental movements in the GDR, including a "Peace laboratory", "Peace Conference", "Environment Seminar", "Human Rights Seminar," "Church from Below". She was a member of the Continuation Committee for the delegates meeting of the peace group members, who gathered under the title "Specifically for Peace" a year. She was co-organizer of the first human rights seminar held in 1986 in Berlin. Due to her public protests against the stationing of Soviet nuclear missiles in East Germany, she was expelled from the SED in 1983 and her profession. In the following years she earned her living as a beekeeper and translator. In 1985 she graduated with a Theology degree. In January 1988 she was arrested in advance of the demonstration in honour of Liebknecht and

Luxemburg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

in East Berlin carrying a poster declaring "Every citizen has the right to express his opinion freely and openly" (Article 27 of the

Constitution of East Germany The Constitution of East Germany refers to the constitution of the German Democratic Republic (), commonly known as East Germany. Its original constitution was promulgated on 7 October 1949. It was heavily based on the "Weimarer Reichsverfassung" ...

) and detained in Berlin Hohenschönhausen prison. She was put on trial by the city district of

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin's ...

on the grounds of "attempted riotous assembly" and although given a custodial sentence she was instead allowed the option of leaving the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

on a temporary visa effectively deporting her from the country. In February 1988 she went to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in the United Kingdom where she studied Philosophy of Religion at St. John's College. On the morning of 9 November 1989 she returned to East Germany.

After German reunification

After the Fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

she resumed her work as a civil rights activist and served as a member of the Constitutional Commission on the reunification of West Germany and East Germany. At this time she joined

Alliance 90 Alliance 90 () was a political alliance of three non-communist political groups in East Germany. It was formed in February 1990 by the New Forum, Democracy Now and the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights. It received 2.9% of the vote in the 19 ...

, the Green Party of the GDR, and at the 1990 election was elected to the member of the GDR parliament until its dissolution on 2 October 1990 as a member of

, the coalition between Alliance 90 and The Greens. Then at the first election after

she was elected to the

. In 1991 she protested the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

by keeping quiet during her allotted speech time in the Bundestag until she was cut off. She was re-elected in the 1994 General election. However, in 1996 Alliance 90/The Greens decided to enter into alliances with the Party of Democratic Socialism, the successors to the former SED. A civil rights activist rather than a leftist, Lengsfeld together with other civil rights activists such as Guenter Nooke and

Ehrhart Neubert Ehrhart Neubert (born 2 August 1940) is a retired German Evangelical minister and theologian. During its final decade he emerged as an opponent of the East German one- party dictatorship, becoming a member of the League of Evangelical Churches ...

defected to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was re-elected at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

elections as a CDU list candidate in her home state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. However, for the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

election she stood in a single member constituency instead and lost her seat. For the 2009 election she ran in the Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Prenzlauer Berg East constituency, the only constituency in the Bundestag to be represented by her former party Alliance 90/Greens. With CDU having finished a distant fourth at the previous election she was thought to have no chance of success and in the event she finished a distant fourth, slightly increasing the CDU vote share. In August 2009 she produced election posters featuring photos emphasizing her cleavage along with a picture of

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

in a very low-cut dress, emblazoned with the slogan ''We have more to offer''. The posters drew a great deal of attention and some criticism. They were featured on Japanese television and in Brazilian and Peruvian newspapers. Some of the posters were reportedly stolen as souvenirs according to the

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news agency.BBC News 12 August 2009 Bosom pals pep up German politics
/ref> Lengsfeld has opposed immigration into Germany, and helped to organize the Erklärung 2018 declaration and petition in opposition to it.

Personal life and Stasi observation

In 1980 she married her second husband, the mathematician and poet Knud Wollenberger with whom she has two sons. Wollenberger was born in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and enjoyed travel privileges. Unbeknownst to Lengsfeld, he had been a Stasi informant since 1972, and during their marriage he continued to file reports on her activities. It is not known whether the Stasi specifically ordered him to approach Lengsfeld. They divorced in 1992 after his Stasi involvement had come to light. Lengsfeld later said that she felt betrayed that anyone could marry or have children under such circumstances. He later explained to her that he, as a Jew, supported the GDR since he saw it as a response to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. She forgave him in 2000 when he was gravely ill. Lengsfeld's father retired from the Stasi in 1986 rather than obey an order to break with his daughter; in 1988 he publicly took her side. Her son Philip is treasurer of the CDU parliamentary group of the district assembly of Berlin's

Pankow Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. P ...

district.

Published works

* ''Virus der Heuchler. Innenansicht aus Stasiakten'', Espresso/Elef.Press, Berlin 1992, * ''Mein Weg zur Freiheit. Von nun an ging's bergauf''. Langen Müller, Berlin 2002, . * ''Neustart! Was sich in Politik und Gesellschaft ändern muss. Umdenken lohnt. Freiheit und Fairness statt Gleichheit und Gerechtigkeit''. Berlin 2006, . * ''Ich wollte frei sein. Die Mauer, die Stasi, die Revolution.'' Herbig Verlag, München 2011, .

References

External links